[Bananafish] Poetry

Thu Mar 23 11:00:32 EST 2006

I got a couple things wrong...early math mistake, I'll be fixing it up
and adding some stuff and sending it out again.  Maybe in a more linear
fashion.

Salinger has everything right though, no math mistakes (except, is
there a place where he says Seymour killed himself on March 19, instead
of March 18?  Anyways, I think things were conceived relatively early. 
Maybe as early as 1946.  The only weird thing is that Bananafish events
take place months before it actually is in the real world.  That's still
science fiction to me.  Can anyone else name a story that takes place in
the future that isn't a science fiction?

Maria?

-mike

>>> jrovira at drew.edu 3/23/2006 4:59 AM >>>

That's wonderful, Mike.  I think it means Salinger didn't conceive the

whole thing as a whole thing until pretty late in the game.

Jim

Michael J ANELLO wrote:

> /1926, In the Glass world...a very consequential party happens 2
years 
> after Buddy and Seymour are at Camp Hapworth./
> // 
> /Real world, /Salinger's "Bananafish" is published Saturday, /January

> 31, 1948 /- in the "Bananafish" world, it is *Thursday*, March 18,
1948.
>  
> Rhea Fedder, tries to call her daughter Muriel last night (Wednesday

> night, 3/17/48) and the night before (Tuesday night, 3/16/48). 
Muriel 
> and Seymour arrive at their destination a day later than Rhea
expected 
> they would arrive.  And now Muriel is calling her two days later than

> Rhea expected.  It's Thursday, March 18, 1948, Muriel and Seymour 
> arrived at their destination yesterday morning.
>  
> So, picture yourself in the real world on Sat, Jan. 31, 1948, and
you're 
> reading about something that happens a month and a half in the
FUTURE.  
> Bitchin'. * It's science fiction.*
>  
> In the Glass world, Buddy says in 1959 that he wrote "Bananafish" a 
> couple of months after Seymour died...which would have been May,
1948.  
> In May, 1948, Buddy would have been 29 years old.  Seymour would have

> been 31.
>  
> Follow this now! 
>  
> In the Glass world, Buddy says in 1959 that his 1955 story (Raise
High) 
> is an account of Seymour's 1942 wedding.  On that day in 1942, Buddy
was 
> 23, and Seymour was 25.
>  
> We all know that Buddy says in 1959 that he is 40 years old.  1948 is
11 
> years ago.  That would make Buddy 29 years old in 1948.  6 years
prior 
> to 1948, Buddy (age 23) is at Seymour's wedding.  NICE.
>  
> In Glass world, 1948, Seymour (38 years old) and Muriel were married
in 
> 1942.  They are on a vacation of some sorts.  Muriel has waited for
him 
> while he was in the war.  War ends in 1945, seems like he's freshly 
> back?  Where's Seargent X been for 3 years?  Is this whole 
> Buddy/Salinger thing a product of Salinger not knowing if he was
Buddy 
> or Seymour?
>  
> In 1951, Buddy writes his long long letter to Zooey.
>  
> Seymour born 1917, dies Thursday, March 18, 1948 (where in HELL does
it 
> say S. dies on March *19*?)
> Buddy born 1919.
> Walt & Waker born 1923.
> Boo Boo born 1921.
> Zooey born 1930.
> Franny born 1934.
>  
> /Real world, 1955/, in the story "Franny" - in the Glass world it is

> also *1955*.  Zooey is 25.  Franny is 21.  Buddy (and guess who else)
is 
> 36.  Seymour died at age 38 seven years ago.
>  
> /Real world, 1955/, in the story "Raise High The Roof Beams" - in the

> Glass world it is still also *1955*.  Buddy tells about how, in 1934,

> when he was 17 years old, Seymour (19 years old at the time, and
halfway 
> to his death) told newborn Franny the Taoist tale of Duke Mu and Po
Lo.  
> He also, of course, tells of Seymour's wedding day in 1942.  On 
> Seymour's wedding day in 1942, Buddy is 23, and Seymour is 25 (with
only 
> 13 years left to his life).  Seymour was married to Muriel for 13
years.
>  
> *TWO YEARS IN THE REAL WORLD PASS, 0 years in the Glass world pass.*
>  
> /Real world, 1957/, in the story "Zooey" - in the Glass world,
Zooey's 
> in a bathtub and it is still *1955*, and Buddy is 36 years old.  
> Salinger/Buddy wrote the story "Zooey", and he would have been 38 in

> 1957...the same age Seymour was when he died.  BANANAFISH IN THE
FUTURE, 
> NOW ZOOEY IN THE PAST.
>  
> /What is going on in the Glass world in *1956*?  *1957*? * 1958*? 
How 
> about the Real world?  Anybody?/
>  
> /Real world, 1959/, in the story "Seymour An Introduction" - it is 
> *1959*, Buddy says he is 40.  Everyone is 4 years older than they
were 
> in "Franny", "Raise High" & "Zooey."
>  
> Seymour died at age 38 eleven years ago.
>  
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> 6 years later, in the Real world, Friday, May 28, 1965, in the story

> "Hapworth 16, 1924" - Buddy/Salinger is 46 years old.  (Buddy types
up 
> Seymour's letter in 4 hours?  Can anyone else type Hapworth in 4
hours?  
> What's the word count on that sucker?  I'm betting it took Salinger 4

> hours to write.)
>  
> Seymour died 17 years ago.  (And you thought he spent a long time in

> CAULFIELD world!)  Seymour would have been 48.
>  
> The story is a letter from Seymour, 1924, from Camp Hapworth when he
was 
> 7.  Buddy was 5.  Seymour won't be dead for another 24 years.
>  
> 24 years is about how long Salinger had been writing, yes?
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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-- 
Jim Rovira
Ph.D. candidate, Drew University
Lecturer in English, Rollins College
http://thephilosopersstone.blogspot.com/
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